Video network services testbed to start development

Avanti contracted to develop network services demonstrator for UK firms

Broadband satellite operator Avanti Communications is tipped to start work on a £216,000 project to develop one of five networks service demonstrators for UK companies wanting to test video offerings.

Avanti said it will be working on the Technology Strategy Board's Digital Advanced Rural Testbed (DART) project, which will enable firms to test new business models, applications and services that can be supported by advanced, open and flexible networks and network services.

David Williams, chief executive officer at Avanti, said: "Increasingly, it is obvious that the relentless increase in demand for bandwidth around the world creates new urgent reasons to integrate satellite capacity into terrestrial networks, especially where video delivery is involved."

The project is one of two new Avanti contracts to develop and demonstrate technology that delivers video to the edge of terrestrial networks, using Avanti’s HYLAS 1 satellite.

Avanti said in a statement that the other project, NXY, is worth €500,000 and funded by the European Space Agency. It will develop video caching technology alongside MPEG 4 IP broadcasting to lighten the video burden on mobile phone and fixed line ISP networks.